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Individual Insolvency Statistics March 2025: "The real question isn’t if more households will sink, it’s who’s next"

ended 25. April 2025

In March 2025, 9,205 individuals entered insolvency in England and Wales. This was 7% lower than in February 2025 but 2% higher than in March 2024, according to official data published this morning.

The individual insolvencies consisted of 613 bankruptcies, 3,490 debt relief orders (DROs) and 5,102 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). The number of DROs in March 2025 was 4% lower than in February 2025. DROs, the Insolvency Service reports, have been at record-high monthly numbers since the abolition of the upfront £90 fee in April 2024, with the 45,804 DROs in the past 12 months being nearly twice as high as the long-term annual average.

The number of IVAs registered in March 2025 was 9% lower than the average monthly number seen in 2024. Bankruptcy numbers remained at about half of pre-2020 levels and were also 11% lower than in March 2024.

In the 12 months ending 31 March 2025, one in 415 adults in England and Wales entered insolvency (at a rate of 24.1 per 10,000 adults). This is higher than the rate of 21.3 per 10,000 adults (one in 469) who entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 31 March 2024.

Newspage asked experts for their views, below.

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Patricia McGirr
Founder at Repossession Rescue Network
Is it still April Fool's Day? Insolvencies down this month? Don’t believe the hype. This isn’t recovery, it’s the calm before the next financial storm. People are clinging to Debt Relief Orders because they can't even afford to go bust properly. When dodging bankruptcy is seen as success, the system is well and truly broken. IVAs falling doesn’t show confidence, it shows desperation dressed up as stability. And one in 415 adults hitting insolvency isn’t a blip, it’s an epidemic. Politicians will call it resilience, but anyone with a mortgage, a credit card or a conscience knows better. The real question isn’t if more households will sink, it’s who’s next. And what’s the government doing while people paddle for their lives? Probably looking forward to Pimm's on the patio of their pristine palaces.

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Editor
Tony Redondo
Founder at Cosmos Currency Exchange
As politicians play the blame game, these stats reveal a financially strained population battered by systemic shifts and economic pressures. The DRO fee abolition offers relief, but root causes like wage stagnation and higher interest rates persist. Tariffs and inflation have the potential to fuel further insolvency increases in the months ahead.
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Ranald Mitchell
Director at bad credit mortgage specialists Charwin Mortgages
The March 2025 insolvency figures lay bare the harsh reality behind the headlines. The cost-of-living crisis hasn’t gone away, it’s just gone quiet. Despite falling inflation and stable interest rates, more people are reaching financial breaking point than this time last year. The surge in Debt Relief Orders is exposing the true scale of hidden debt stress in the UK, not because more people are struggling, but because they can finally afford to admit it. Removing the £90 fee hasn’t solved the problem, it’s revealed it. One in every 415 adults is now entering insolvency. That’s not a niche issue, it’s a potential national emergency.